The invention is related to a device for switchably influencing electromagnetic radiation, and to a method for obtaining such a device.
From Ee, H.-S. & Agarwal, R., Tunable Metasurface and Flat Optical Zoom Lens on a Stretchable Substrate, Nano Lett. 16, 2818-2823 (2016), a device for influencing electromagnetic radiation is known, wherein an optical response of the device is tuned mechanically. In particular, a distance between separate nanoresonators is changed by stretching a flexible substrate. Mechanical actuation, however, can be undesirable on a microscopic scale due to inherent space restrictions as well as intrinsic limitations on the switching speed and/or frequency. Furthermore, the flexible substrate is prone to fast degradation, thus only allowing for a small number of switching cycles. Switchable optical devices so far do not offer the possibility to switch between different optical functionalities, e.g. between zoom lensing on the one hand and beam-steering on the other hand.